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General Guinness

  • (Trad)

    (spoken: 'The Pig and the Inebriate')
    It was the pig fair last September
    The day I well remember
    I was walking up and down in drunken pride
    When my knees began to flutter
    And I sank down in the gutter
    And a pig came up and lay down by my side
    As I lay there in the gutter
    Thinking thoughts I could not utter
    I thought I heard a passing lady say
    You can tell the man who boozes
    By the company that he chooses
    And with that the pig got up and walked away

    You've heard of General Wellington who won at Waterloo
    But there's a good old Irishman I'll mention unto you
    He comes from dear old Dublin he's a man we all applaud
    For he always finds a corkscrew far more handy than a sword
    He's good old General Guinness he's a soldier strong and stout
    He's found on every bottlefront and he can't be done without
    His noble name his worldwide fame deserve three hearty cheers
    Hurrah for General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers

    This hale and hearty worrier is worshipped in the ranks
    For he does his task inside the cask as well as in the tanks
    And he bears the brunt on every front north south east and west
    And he wears about ten million canteen medals on his chest
    He is good old General Guinness he has won the world's applause
    'Twas him who kept our spirits up in the midst of all our wars
    Who was the first to flirt with Mademoiselle from Armentières
    Why good old General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers

    All over bonnie Scotland too the General is seen
    They've given him the Freedom of the Toon of Aberdeen
    From Inverness to Galashiels he keeps them warm and bright
    And they love to gather round him ach on every moonlit night
    He's good old General Guinness he's as good as Scottish broth
    'Twas him who turned the Firth of Forth into the Firth of Froth
    All Scotsmen dance the Highland fling and shout when he appears
    Hurrah for General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers

    (as sung by Boys of the Lough)

  • Armentières - French town near Bailleul, battlefield of World War I;
    there is a World 'War I' song 'Mademoiselle from Armentières'

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1930:] Stout is [...] the robust and slightly heavier brother of beer. [...] Dublin is the home of stout. Guiness's brewery is the world's largest brewery, and it is, speaking industrially, Dublin. It is the greatest employer of labour in the Irish capital, and the only firm with a world-wide reputation. A jet black river of Guinness trickles into every corner of the thirsty world, taking with it the name of Dublin. [...] The recipe for stout is simple: it is hops (Kentish and Californian mixed), pale malt, and a certain quantity of roast malt or barley. Roast malt looks exactly like coffee, which explains the Ethiopian colour of the 'wine of Ireland'. (H. V. Morton, In Search of Ireland 36)

  • [1974:] This frankly vaudeville song extols the virtues of Ireland's 'black liquidation with froth on the top'. It probably dates from the First World War period (see second verse), and General Guinness is still winning battles. Robin has the song from Dick Bamber who lives in his native Portadown, Co. Armagh. (Notes 'Boys of the Lough III')

  • See also
    The Pig and the Inebriate

Quelle: Ireland

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Henry
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08.02.2000 aktualisiert am 22.10.2003